Titanfall: The New Titan
by TheGamerWrites
Summary: A couple of years after the battle of Demeter, the Interstellar Manufacturing Corporation (IMC) have requested the Apex Predators to investigate a suspected Militia base. Kuben Blisk sends a pilot named Bara Norton, along with a team to infiltrate and get any information possible.
1. Chapter 1

"Pilot log #15: It's been several hours since the ambush, I'm alone and behind enemy lines and I can't use my comms without running the risk of alerting the Militia. I wish I have Heart Breaker on my side, but it will only attract more attention, Bara out," the message recorded and saved itself to the helmet. Bara Norton, a female mercenary pilot working for the Apex Predators with high hopes of being the best pilot in the team, "I'm a fool for accepting this mission, but I cannot let Blisk down!" she said pushing herself further into Militia territory.

A couple Earth days prior to the ambush, Blisk came up to her with an offer, "Oi, Bara, we got ourselves an offering from the IMC to spy on a potential Militia base."

"Militia, huh? Those rebels can't even fight without stealing from the IMC, lay it on me,"

"They want one of us to go in and grab any if not all information you can find and bring it back for analysis, we want the upper hand on these terrorists."

"I'm ready for it, just set me up with a team and we're off."

"This is will be a Titan free mission, we don't want to take any risks," he said giving her the contract.

"I'll do my best, sir!" she saluted to him as he went about to other businesses to attend to.

"Good luck out there pilot, you're gonna need it."

Making sure she's not being followed, Bara climbed one of the many trees in the forest. At the top, a facility could be seen from a distance, covered by the foliage surrounding it, "Let's see what we have here..." flipping down the focal to zoom in on, "Pilot Logs #16: I see a bunch of Militia hanging around the outside but that's not enough to confirm, if I could hijack their comms, I might have the answers that I need, Bara out." lifting up the focal, a pair of grunts walked underneath the tree she's hiding in, giving her a chance she's been looking for, with the downside of possibly alerting her presence.

Choosing to act now, she jumped down the tree and waited for them at the base. The grunts themselves are having a soothing conversation, "So how's the Militia treating ya Barry?"  
"It has its fair shares, but anything to get the IMC to leave us alone is more than enough to convince me," replied the grunt.  
"You said it! Those monsters trespassed into our homes and drain the planet of its resources!-" Bara appeared behind them with a data knife in her hand, pulling one of them down and kicked the other's helmet off. Stumbling on his feet, she jammed the knife to the grunt lying on the ground through his face, killing him instantly. The grunt regained his balance but was confronted by the pilot, resorting to his pistol. Bara quickly disarmed the now frighten man and wrapped her arms around his head, "Just so you know," she whispered into his ear, "The IMC braved the Frontier for you people, talk about spoiled," she snapped his neck and watch him fall lifelessly to the ground. The helmet that flew off was a short distance away, walking to it and removed the comm link attached to his helmet. She attached it to her helmet giving it power and a wave of conversations surged through. Now that she has access to the network, what the IMC had suspected were realized, a secret Militia base disguised as an abandoned facility, the question is, what are they hiding inside?

Night fell and Bara grew weary and hungry, hiding in the trees to avoid being spotted, listening to the comms a little more. Most of them are patrol checks and others are conversations "... Patrol 5, check in."

"We're good here, nothing to report," she spaced out and remembered her previous battles when she still worked for the IMC, specifically from the IMC Airbase on the moon of Demeter.

Bara practiced with another pilot, jumping off walls with their jump packs, firing paintballs at each other to simulate a battle. Time felt slow, the adrenaline in their bodies maxed out constantly firing and dodging, it was only a matter of time before one of them fell defeated. In one swift move, Bara aimed and fired a paintball to the other's head ending the mock battle. She came to helped him up, taking off her helmet, her short dirty blonde dripped in sweat, "Not bad," she said out of breath, "But I still won," he laughed once he got up, "What's so funny?"

"Check your helmet Bara," curious as she is, she looked at her helmet only to have her head marked by the paint on his gloves, "Now you look ridiculous," she chuckled wiping the paint off her, "You just don't want to admit you lost Scot."

"That's a possibility," he swiftly pulled her into his arms and gazed deep into her eyes, "Come on and admit you like me."

"You know, the funny thing is, I know you're playing me, but you're right," she playfully shoved him off. Moments later, the alarm went off and a message echoed across the airbase, "All IMC pilots report to debriefing, I repeat, all IMC pilots report to debriefing!"

"This seems bad," said Scot.

"Yeah, something must be up," she replied putting on her helmet and changing her weapons to live ammo.

When they got there, every pilot stood in formation as a projection came up, "Attention. This is Vice Admiral Graves to all personnel. A Militia attack on this base is imminent. Prepare for hostile Titanfall," under the helmet, Bara was shocked that the Militia have the gall to attack an IMC airbase, "There are strong indications that they intend to destroy repulsor towers at the heart of this facility. The Militia will do anything to destroy these towers. If we lose, there's nothing to protect this place from the elements. Now let's go kick some ass. Graves out," everyone readied their weapons and moved out.

A battle on the base ensued. 3 minutes in the battle and the Militia just keeps coming, casualties on both sides are rising. Bara called in her Titan to maintain their defense on the battlefield, "Stand by for Titanfall, pilot," said Spyglass, a modified Spectre that handles the deployment of Titans. She looked up in the sky to see a pod fall from the sky, breaking apart to reveal her Atlas Titan as it hit the ground with tremendous force. Rushing in to get seated and go into battle, "Welcome back pilot, AI mode offline," closing the hatch and turning on the exterior cameras for a visual, "Let's show these terrorists what we're made of Heart Breaker!" exclaimed Bara, loading in a shell in her 40mm Cannon. She could hear Scot call in his Titan over the comms, "This battle will be over before we know it, Scot."

"You think you're gonna have all the fun?" seeing more Militia Titans falling into battle. The next 7 minutes felt like hours, Militia dropships picking up any surviving pilots and grunts for a full retreat.  
"Pilot, we've sustained major damage."

"Yeah, but we drove those terrorists out," she caught her breath, "That's the most important part," Scot came up behind her with his Titan, she turned to look at him, shocked to see his condition. a superheated hole had penetrated through the cockpit and out the other side, "Scot!" his Stryder Titan kneeled in front of her as it opened the hatch and Scot fell out.

"One of those Militia scums got me with a plasma shot the moment we won..." he said in pain. Bara exited her titan as fast as she could and slid to his side, "Bara, I'm afraid I won't be able to make it..."

"No scot!" she removed her helmet and wrapping her arms around him, "Don't say such things! You're gonna make it!" she cried.

"You and I both know I'm not going to make it..." he coughed up blood.

"Scot! You're going to be fine!" she held him closer and tighter, "Please don't leave me!" clouds thunder above them, indicating incoming rain, lightning shot across the sky and rain began to fall. Scot's Titan had informed the gruesome news, "Pilot, I'm afraid pilot Scot Rosso is no longer with us," she pressed her face up to his, crying immensely. His body felt cold, the rain poured with her refusing to let go until IMC forces came by to handle the situation. She watched as they put Scot in a body bag and took him away. Mere moments the towers near the base exploded, causing the creatures such as Flyers swooping in and Leviathans stomping the airbase, "Attention all personell, get to an evac ship, the base will fall within 7 hours," anounced Spyglass."  
"Even after that, the Militia still won?!" angered Bara.  
"Attention, the Militia are preparing to attack the reactor on Demeter. If they succeed, it will cause a chain reaction of explosions. These fueling stations are key to the Core Systems and the Frontier."  
"These terrorist are getting out of hand!" Bara proclaimed as she boarded, taken straight from the base to the IMC Colossus, where further debriefing is needed, "We will win this fight."

"Patrol 15, check in..." followed by dead air, snapping Bara back to reality, "Patrol 15?" she stayed silent, "Patrol 15 do you copy?!" dead air continued. She looked below to see a flashing red dot on the grunts' uniform. Moments later, the comm attached to her helmet exploded, breaking the components and impaired her hearing. The helmet flickered on and off, leaving no choice but to remove her helmet, "Damn that stupid comm! Destroyed my helmet, I better get a move on, I can't let Blisk down," leaving it wedged in-between two branches.

Approaching the facility carefully without alerting the other patrols, waiting for a perfect opportunity to slip in unnoticed but with the fiasco that happened earlier, it seems a little slim. Grunts are nothing special, but only in numbers can they take down a pilot. She picked up a pebble and threw it in one direction grabbing the attention of the surrounding grunts, rushing in to hide by the vents. Taking out her data knife and unscrewed the vent covers, hoping no one spotted her. Closing the vent carefully without attracting attention, she heads off to follow where it leads and uncover what they could be hiding. Crawling slowly, it conjured the rest of her memory of the airfield, the sound of cheering and guns firing to celebrate a successful defense against the Militia at the cost of many casualties. The sound of Militia chatter echoed across the vents snapping Bara back to reality. Looking through one of the grates, she saw two grunts by a computer, a good place to start looking for Intel, "This has been a long day today," he paused for a yawn, "I really hope this project would put those Titans in their place."

"Keep your mouth shut!" the grunt covered the other's mouth, "Are you too tired to remember what our CO told us?"

"Yeah yeah, I know, we lost Patrol 15 and is suspected that a spy is somewhere here and all that," he said using his hand to mock the conversation.

"This is a serious situation, you don't know if somebody is here listening, so shut up and don't ever talk about the new Titan!" Bara's ears twitched on this 'new titan', questioning under her breath, "New Titan? What is the purpose of this Titan? I need a closer look but I can't risk being spotted," she peered around the room through the grate for any cameras, choosing to come out when the grunts have finished chatting.

It felt like hours but the grunts had finally left, using her knife again to unscrew the grate and made sure to make as little noise as possible. Once inside, she peeked around the corner for any grunts and possible pilots patrolling, heading towards the computer in the room and finding a slot big enough for a knife to fit through, "Let's see here..." she clicked the button to eject the chip from the hilt to the tip and jabbed it in the slot, overriding the computer to unlock itself.

Surfing through the data, she found a folder that interested her the most, "Project Vanguard? What are you hiding?" she muttered under her breath, opening to find two files; Test Results and Blueprints, "It took us a while and a lot of resources," it played, "but Project Vanguard is coming along quite nicely. We've successfully acquired the new IMC Titans thanks to the SRS, so far we have Scorch, Ronin, and Tone and begun to hook them up to our Vanguard prototype to download their coding. At the time of this report, a Ronin code has been fully copied with Scorch proving much more difficult. I will update this when something new comes up, this is Dan Covy signing off," before he could turn off the recording, a small electrical charge had visibly shown behind him with another researcher running towards him before it went blank.

"Interesting, so the Militia wanted to copy our titans but why? Only way to find out..." she opened the blueprints for this Titan, design wise looks angular but it's supposed function is to copy and wield other Titan weapons system for a more adaptable setup, "I hit the gold here!" she exclaimed, copying the files into her knife, the report was the first to copy before the blueprint.

Before it could finish, the power went out due to the testing, "Sorry for the outage, testing on Ronin's code had short-circuited the power," one glance at the knife and the progress showed 80% completed with the same two grunts to burst in and spotted her. With quick thinking, she threw her knife at one of them, the blood distracted the other long enough to come up to him and snapped his neck in quick succession, but it was too late. The one on the left whose neck is snapped had already opened comms and alerted the entire base, "Red Alert! An enemy in the base!" sounded the alarm, prompting her no choice but to finish her mission and leave.

Running throughout the complex, killing any armed personnel until she stumbled upon a warehouse of Titans with the corner being the prototype Titan. As tempting as it is, Bara chose not to hijack it due to it being a work in progress build, which could kill her. Choosing the next best thing, she chose the Tone right beside it. Jumping to the hull, she forced the hatch at the top to open and climbed in. Feeling around in the dark, Bara found the switch to activate the Titan and watched as the buttons and display powered up, "Hello pilot," the AI greeted, "I'm Tone..."

"Yes hi, can we skip this? We need to get out of here and fast!"

"I don't seem to understand..."

"We're in a secret Militia base and they're going to use you as a source of data for a new Titan."

"Militia?" the AI questioned.

"Yes, we need to get out of here! I'll explain later."

"Please insert authorization code or provide a neural link,"

"15309021996-EBK," she said as she input on the keypad.

"Switching to pilot mode," she tested the movements in the arms prior to pulling out the 40mm Cannon located on the lower back of the Titan, watching all the abilities light up and charging. To her luck, the cannon still has it's ammunition, probably to test it later. Getting off the crane, she turned to the Vanguard slumped over contemplated whether or not she wants to take it with, "What am I thinking?! It's just going to slow me down!" running towards the hangar door, opening it with ease. Militia grunts and Spectres have deployed archer rockets and Sidewinders to attack the Titan in Crow dropships, "Pilot we have sustained major damage."

"I noticed!" she turned to fire a couple rounds, just enough to down the ships, "Tone open a channel to Sector 531!" a face cam opened up with a familiar voice, "This is Commander Kuben Blisk, state your business."

"Commander! I have acquired information about the base and its involvement," she saluted.

"Oi! Excellent work Bara. We will await your arrival, don't take too long."

"Is it possible to send an extraction team?"

"Unless you can get a spot not regulated by Militia forces, you're all on your own."

"Understood, be there as soon as I can," she shut off the comms and wondered what her Titan can do, "Tone, what are your abilities?"

"My abilities consist of tracking rockets, sonar pulse, a particle wall, and my 40mm Cannon," Tone explained.  
"I see..." she fired at the downed ships acquiring a full lock on, a red ring locked on, "Deploying Tracking Rockets," Tone said firing a string of missiles, causing the ship to explode, doing it again to the other one, "Tone, scan for any Militia that could interfere."

"Scans show that we are surrounded by Militia forces miles away, I suggest we move Northeast for a more successful approach."

"If that's our best bet, it better not be more trouble than it's worth," she replied heading in the desired direction.


	2. The Plan

Night fell, the sky filled with colors from the known galaxy, "I'm never getting used to that," said Bara riding on top of Tone, "Planet Leviathan is so peaceful, even if it has creatures that can kill me."

"Pilot, I'm detecting a small group North of here, should we exterminate?" her titan asked.

"Are they like what we fought before?" she replied, "If not we need to investigate before any actions can occur."

"What are your suggestions, pilot?"

"Stay here, if it's the Militia we can avoid them, be sure to stay hidden, don't use your cannon or rockets, I will be back."

"Standing guard, good luck pilot," she said holstering her cannon. Bara grappled the trees and headed in the direction of a small light source. Arriving at her destination, her heart filled with glee when she saw her squad, or at least what remains from the ambush. Without any communication devices, she has to go back and bring her back to regroup and plan out a way to leave Leviathan.

The group sat around the campfire having conversations, "How could we have been fooled? How did they suspect us?" said one of the grunts.

"Get off the subject already Mark!" the captain ordered, "No point bringing up!

"Someone knew about this operation, as far as I'm aware, the only people who knew about it were our now diminished team, the pilot leading us, and commander Blisk!" he closed the gap between him and the captain, "We have a mole somewhere!"

"Stand down Mark!" he ordered once more.

"Because of that mole, it's down to us, James, and Steve! You know who I think it is?" everyone silenced, the fire crackled in the background and the wind blowing against the trees, "I think it's that pilot."

"Bara will never betray the IMC..."

"Then why did she abandon us? She left us for dead to hands of the Militia...!" he interrupted.

"She left us for the sake of the mission; we're merely the grunts of this operation!"

"ENOUGH!" James jumped in between them, "No amount of arguing will change our current situation! Our only hope is that pilot!" Steve noticed something moving and hearing loud thumping sounds, Something wrong Steve?"

"Something big is coming... a Titan possibly..." he answered.

"Alright men, get those Archer rockets readied and into position, we need to catch it off guard!" everybody stocked up with what supplies they have left and climbed the trees waiting for their target to emerge. Their fingers eager to pull, it was only a matter of time. The captain felt an unusual presence; he glanced behind him to see a familiar face, "So who are we hiding from Leon?" she coyed.

"Bara?" he questioned.

"Yes and I bought two gifts, but have your men stand down."

"Stand down men," he ordered, "Bara is back," everybody dropped down and sat by the campfire while Bara headed in the other direction.

"Where is she going?" asked James. Bara came back riding on top of Tone as everybody stunned to see a titan among them, "A titan?!"

"Yep, stole her back from the Militia along... with this," she said pulling out her data knife. Mark looked at her as if she was joking, "I know it doesn't look much, but I was able to steal their most secret project yet if they perfected this, it will turn the tide of war," she sat with them.

"Excellent work Bara, what is that they're planning?" Leon asked.

"A Titan that's capable of copying our Gen 2 Titans loadouts and abilities, if they succeed, they will turn the tables on us, just like what happened on Demeter."

"Interesting, now we need to find a way off Leviathan..." James pointed out, "We just need to radio in Blisk and..."

"Not going to happen..." she interrupted, "Blisk won't send somebody unless we are at a spot not regulated by the enemy, plus after I contacted Blisk, it's possible that they're tracking air channels. If we go back to that base, maybe we can hijack one of their dropships."

"What about your titan there," Mark pointed out, "How is it going getting off?"

She turned to look at Tone, staring back, "I would like to destroy the base."

"WHAT?!"

"Destroying the prototype won't do any good, plus it doesn't seem they were copied elsewhere, so if we destroy the base along with their computers, they will certainly have to start from scratch; though it is possible that after my encounter they're copying the data to whoever"

"It's possible that after you infiltrated, the data could've been copied elsewhere," Leon spoke, "Plus we may have a small problem."

"Problem?"

"Yes, Mark here says that one of us may have telegraphed the enemy when we landed on here, but we don't know who."

"Fun, then everyone give me your comms... all of them," she requested, "No use being a mole without something to send out."

"You heard the lady, give her all your comms..." everyone except Mark complied and removed the module from their helmets, Leon noticed, "Mark, your comms... now!" he demanded.

"I hope you know what you're doing Bara," he said yanking the device out and giving it to her.

"Thank you..." she said giving them all to Tone, "Do it," without hesitation, Tone crushed all the comms, leaving nothing but plastic bits and pieces, "Now that settles that, somebody get me a ration, I haven't eaten since we left."

"What's the point in destroying them!?" Mark lashed out, "What makes you think it could be one of us?!"

"No comms, no temptations, no way for a mole to give us away without being creative. Besides, why would the Militia kill their agent?" Mark stepped down, filling the air with silence, "Everybody keep an eye on each other, we attack in 12 hours, so sit back and relax. Here's the plan..."

It didn't take long for Bara to explain the plan, but after a while of dead silence, filling the air with crackling by the fire, she decided to speak up, "Well I'm bored, anybody want to talk about themselves? I mean we have time to kill."

"Might as well..." Leon gave in, "Before I became a captain, I was an artist selling his paintings for chump change," he chuckled, "I joined the IMC for more inspiration by listening to stories from troops and pilots alike. After Demeter, I dropped that to focus on stopping the Militia, making sure something like that does not happen again."

"Interesting, did you keep some of your paintings? I would like to see some," James spoke up.

"Yeah, I have one of a pilot perched on top of their titan catching the rays of the sun as it sets, pretty plain I know," they all chuckled,

"When we get back, I'm buying us some beers! How about you James? What's your story?"

"Not much really, I was a fan of mechs when I was younger, watching shows on TV got me so hyped that when I heard about our titans, I want to drive one myself help moving cargo on shipyards and such. That is until we had the Titan wars, converting simple pilots into soldiers, I wanted to drive one still, but I cannot handle the simulations, even before the wars began. But as much as that dream is dead, I still love seeing them walk among us!"

"Trust me, being a pilot is not as fun as it seems," said Bara, "I had a hard time with the neural link."

"But isn't the neural link designed to control the titans without problems?" James asked.

"Not the initial one, through repeated practice will it then flow seamlessly, it took me a week to get the feel of it and another week to  
control my titan, Heart Breaker," she kicked her feet back, "Maybe we can get you training, I've heard they're better than before."

"I would love that... Now you Steve."

"I'm just here for the cause, nothing special. I AM interested in our pilot here," he said catching her off guard, "Tell us your life story."

"It's not so different than James's story..."

"Please... you're an IMC pilot! Which means you trained at the IMC Training Facility on Gridiron, we want to know how you got here."

"Fine," she changed positions, "I started as one of many secretaries for Hammond Robotics, keeping tabs on documents and projects. I remembered the Militia were doing some raids where I requested my superiors to transfer me to the IMC as a pilot. They warn me of the dangers, but I'll do anything to help the war effort."

"How difficult was it? As a pilot I mean."

"If you think being a marine is bad enough, being a pilot will push you to death..."

"You don't mean actual death, right?" all Bara could do was stare, her emotion unchanged, she's dead serious, making him uneasy, "Oh god..."

"That's why the mortality rate on Gridiron is 98 percent, to test your will to survive in such a harsh environment. It was either survive or be six feet under, only the best of the best could survive," the group sat in silence, giving a new sense of respect for their companion, "I don't want to talk more into it... all that's left is you..." her index towards Mark laid back and trying to nap, "What's your story?"

Mark, looking a bit grumpy for being called on, waving his hand to pass his turn, "I don't have a story to share..."

"Come on," said Leon, "We all shared ours, some heavier than others, but all it's left is you."

"I was a farmer from Harmony until the IMC drafted us to be Marines for the war effort. After the Battle of Demeter, I was limited from sending my family letters and vice versa."

"Harsh, any way you'll be honorably discharged?"

"Supposedly after this mission, I guess I won't see my family ever again."

"Don't worry," Bara interjected, "I'll make sure you'll get to see your family, it's my code of conduct."

"I'm not trusting you, pilot; ever since that battle, I will not trust you," from the corner of his eyes, Bara got up and walked off.

"Mark, she's trying her best to get us back home," Steve spoke up.

"Whatever..."

Leon got up and followed Bara, seeing her sitting next to Tone while it is doing system checks," Hey sorry about Mark..." he apologized.

"Don't be, and he has his rights. Though I've been thinking, I might know who our mole is. However, it's just speculation."

"Really? Who do you think it is?"

"I think it's Mark, he said that after Demeter they limited his contact to his family in Harmony, isn't it the headquarters of the Militia?"

"Yeah, but he was drafted before that battle, so there's no way he could BE a Militia spy, maybe you're just lashing out of spite."

"Maybe, I still believe it's him, it just doesn't seem right to me is all."

"Hope we get off this rock as planned, we're all counting on you," he pats her shoulder before returning to the camp. Tone finished it's system checks and proceed to ask her pilot about the conversation earlier, "My memory banks don't recall a location known as Demeter..."

"The Battle of Demeter was an event that happened two years back where the Militia fleet attacked the fueling depots..."

* * *

"Attention all personnel, report to the deck for debriefing, I repeat, all personnel, report to the deck for debriefing," the intercom echoed across the ship, looming over the planet. Everybody gathered to listen to Graves' debriefing, "Attention all Pilots, this is your commanding officer Vice Admiral Graves. Please stand by for transmission from your employer, Mister Hammond."  
A hologram of Hammond appeared behind him, "Are you receiving me, Graves?"

"Yes, sir. Proceed."

"All loyal members of the IMC, I have been informed of the recent loss of our air support responsible for the security of Demeter. Rest assured, I am presently fueling reinforcements to be dispatched from the Core Systems, on the long jump to the Frontier. You will hold the port of Demeter this day, you will crush the terrorists' last-ditch attempt at disrupting our civilization - and you will find yourselves relieved and rewarded tomorrow. Vice Admiral Graves, our world is in your hands."

"Yes, sir. All Pilots, prepare for battle," everybody dismissed when more Militia ships appeared from slip space. This was it, a full-fledged war between the IMC and Militia. Ships were dispatched and defense turrets activated. Everybody geared up and stock up on supplies for pending battle on the surface; Graves took over the intercom when a small team of pilots prepared for a drop, "Demeter is the gateway to the Frontier. By attacking our largest refueling depot, the Militia thinks they can shut the door on us; you will correct that perspective... Graves out," he turned around to see a small team of highly skilled pilots riding down the lift, "Pilots! Defend the Hardpoints at all costs! If the Militia overloads the reactor core, it's all over! Strap in!" as the pilots entered the drop pods.

Bara watched over the railing and hearing the comms in her helmet, "Cut the chatter, initiating drop sequence!" followed immediately by thrusters ejecting the pod from the ship. Bara, alongside her squad, wait on the deck and viewed Demeter from above, "I can't believe this is happening!" Bara muttered, "Those terrorist bastards are trying to make a name for themselves!"

"Don't worry about it Bara," said Alex Richards, the highest ranking pilot in the group, "Blisk dropped with them to head to the facility alone; hopefully he carries his plan without a hitch."

"I hope so. I want this battle over..."

"Stop moping over him," said Rose, "He did what he had to do... you need to get you're head out of the gutter."

"I'm sorry..." she apologized, "We got bigger fish to fry!"

The battle raged on as an IMC carrier appeared and deployed Phantoms, captains calling the IMS Colossus for more reinforcement. Bara and her crew readied their titans and prepared to give Titan support, "This is Bara Norton, Atlas titan 'Heart Breaker' wielding the 40mm standby and ready to drop."

"This is Rose Lind, Stryder titan 'Split Jaw' wielding the Quad Rockets standby and ready to drop."

"Alex Richards, Atlas titan 'Mamaragan' wielding Arc Canon standby and ready to drop."

"This is Ruth Day, Ogre titan 'Big Munch' wielding Triple Threat standby and ready to drop, awaiting your orders Spyglass."

"Negative Hazard Team, ex-IMC Officer, James MacAllen has locked himself in the reactor core and has begun to overload it," Spyglass replied, "Vice Admiral Graves requested Blisk to retreat before switching to a private channel."

"What of the troops on the surface? Send in Phantoms for evacuation..."

"The base is too far gone, sending in evac ships will result in more casualties, we're waiting on Blisk to come back before we initiate slip space jump."

"We can't leave them behind!" Bara forcefully hopped out of her Titan, "Those are IMC lives down there!" hangars opened up to let whatever Phantoms were left before they were locked down by Spyglass, "They need to be out of there!"

"Further discussion on this subject can and will mark you as a terrorist and will be treated accordingly. Do I make myself clear, Pilot?" static filled the air as Bara silenced herself, leaving only to switch channels to listen on Graves, "Pilots, the core is going critical. We're sending evac ships to your location. We're gonna get you out of there."

"Negative- Executing command override. Evacuation ships- canceled."

"Dammit Spyglass! What the hell do you think you're doing?" questioned Graves.

"All Capital ships- autopilot engaged. Forcing jump to minimum safe distance," hearing reports of the facility smoking before everything starts to distort, next thing they knew, they're stranded somewhere in the Frontier.

"They just cut us off from the Core Systems," radioed Blisk, "We're stuck on the wrong side of the Frontier, Sir."

"Yes, we are," replied Graves. All Bara could do is storm off to her quarters, muttering offensive comments. Rose turned to Alex wondering about the future, "Think she'll defect to Militia after this?"

"Too early to tell, if so what about the rest of the crew? Will we defect?"

"Right, only time will tell."

* * *

"After that, Graves defected to the Militia putting Spyglass as Vice Admiral, Alex and Rose defected with him, leaving Ruth and me as the last of Hazard. Militia attacked a Hammond Robotics factory three months with another defeat under our belts. I just wished I could've saved him. Not long after, Blisk's contract was completed and started recruiting for his group, the Apex Predators. Most if not all had joined him, Vinson Dynamics, or ARES for work thus, here we are now," she finished."

"Information acknowledge, Pilot. Scanning for any Militia signals."

"Right, warn us if any Militia scouts get dangerously close, if so we're moving out," Bara embarked with Tone but denied controls, "I'm going to rest until daybreak."

"Understood."

She got as comfy as she could and dozed off.

* * *

"Get those hardpoints online! We need as much support from these Spectres as we can to defeat these terrorists!" Bara called out to Ruth.

"I'm capturing Charlie as we speak, worry about Alpha!"

"We're guarding it as much we can, Graves taught them to fight alright," she jumped out the window and embarked her Titan. Distant roars came from the sky as the Militia called more titans, "Be careful Ruth, there's enemy titans by your side."

"I got problems of my own; you need to help me fend them off!"

"Goddammit, alright I'm on my way!" moving as fast as she could, mowing down that were unlucky enough to be in the way. Around the corner she spotted two familiar looking Titans, "You got to be kidding me!" firing off a couple of shots before backing off from the incoming fire, "Ruth... it's them..."

"They're Militia now, and there's nothing you can do so don't. Hold. BACK!" an incoming transmission came in, "Bara, don't!"

"Don't what, Ruth? Afraid to fight us?" said Rose.

"Rose, Why did you have to leave?!" Bara asked.

"Same reason why Graves left, I thought you would defect too."

"Bara, they're terrorists. End the call!" demanded Ruth.

"How about you shut it, Ruth!" Alex joined in, "I don't want to kill both of you when we can become a team again, but if you can't see through the lies of the IMC, then I have no other choice."

"I would rather die than join you!" Bara readied her Titan weapon and peeked around the corner.

"Give it up. You have already lost this battle!" Alex taunted.

"We're done here, let's see who's better," ending the call and went over to Ruth, where he hopped back into his Titan, "Do we have this hardpoint?"

"No, there were too many of them, I had no choice but to get out of there."

"Dammit, we're getting slaughtered out here, we need reinforcements!" Bara called out.

"Negative- we have been defeated. Mission- terminated. All pilots head to the evac point," Bara closed the line and received the coordinates to the drop, "Okay Ruth, we need to protect this spot for the other pilots!" a set of explosions happened around the facility, bursting into flames, "These spectres are exploding!"

"Over there!" a Stryder dashed around the corner, firing a barrage of rockets, "Popping Particle Wall!" a wall of energy appeared in front of them, "Watch my back, he might flank us!" he shouted firing mines past the shield to stop her from moving forward. Bara looked around, looking for Alex as a surge of electricity hit the both of them, blinding them temporarily. They never expected him to come from the side through the main corporate building. The Crow finally appeared for a limited time before departure; Bara continued to protect the ship until her titan's reactor was exposed. Reaching for the lever below her seat, the titan initiated the ejection sequence, launching her high in the air. She landed on the roof of the ship and quickly entered along with other pilots breathing heavily, "That's everyone?" yelled the shipmaster.

"Not yet, we still have one more below you!"

"Go without me, I'll hold them off!" he said firing grenades and ordinances."

"I can't leave you behind!"

"Ma'am, the shields about to drop, we need to leave NOW!" she hung her head over and thought a quick second before nodding, "We're outta here boys!" the ship ascended further in the sky, shutting the hatches as everything around distorted for a small jump to orbit, "We're out! Just a short cooldown and we'll jump again," Bara viewed the planet before them.

"I wish you came with me, Ruth," she said placing her hand on the glass, "I don't want to lose you, too."

"Next stop, home..." he said blasting off in space.

* * *

Small sets of knocking echoed inside the cockpit, causing her to wake up, "Bara, it's 200 hours before daybreak, you ready?" asked Leon. Bara took control and readied her weapon, "Alright... we're clear. Follow closely behind her and have confidence, we will succeed!" he said jumping off the titan, feeling the ground shake as she walked. Constantly scanning the area around them to ensure no scouts can catch them by surprise. Upon reaching the facility, they waited for an opportunity to sneak in, from there on out; Bara headed in one direction with Tone following close behind while the rest went off to find a ship. Following directions from Tone, they found the main reactor, "Pilot, there won't be enough time to escape unharmed."

"We'll make it so, use whatever rockets you have remaining and fire it there!" pods jerked forward with missiles armed and ready, firing in rapid succession until it emptied. An alarm went off across the facility as a pre-recorded message blared in the speakers, "That's our cue to leave, hope the boys found a ship to get the hell out of here," she headed back the way they came. Using Tone's navigation system to find the hangars, 20 meters above them, "How much time do we have?"

"5 minutes, chances for survival is minimum, we won't make it."

"Kick it into gear!" she exclaimed, cutting it close as the building around them crumbled, reaching the hangar with seconds left on the clock. The crew gestured to hurry up before the ship rose and aimed for the sky, flying higher and higher, leaving Bara with no other choice, "I'm sorry Tone..." she muttered under her breath, pulling the lever beneath her seat. The ejection threw her up in the air, reaching her hand out before the ship jumped in front of her. She watched in horror as the building's sections below her engulf in flames and crumbled. Using her jump pack, she landed safely on the tallest structure of building before it supports gave out, stumbling around as it leaned towards the trees. Seeing an opportunity to jump off; maximizing her pack, she jumped as far as she could without any energy left to soften her landing and no trees near her to grab, landing and rolled around the compost, dirt, and rocks to a complete stop. Wiping off the whatever it was, she was caught off guard by the surviving Militia that escaped, everybody, aiming their weapons at her. Weighing her options, she raised her hands and surrendered to them, "Stay where you are, or we will shoot!" one of them ordered, cautiously approaching to cuff her hands with a thick piece of rope and performed a body search, pulling out her data knife from the sheath, "All clear."

"Good... knock her out," using the butt of the gun, he struck the back of her head, her vision faded as she hit the ground.

On-orbit, Leon gathered everybody at the back and scolded at Mark, "We had plenty of time!" Leon yelled, "She could have made it!"

"Had we stayed any longer down there, we would have been burned to a crisp!" Mark replied, "It's for the better."

"We need to go back down there and get her, she helped us... we came here with 99 men and one pilot now it's just us, we should return the favor!" he prepped, "She is more than a soldier, she's family. Are you with me?! Leon turns to Mark to see if he changed his mind.

"Sorry boss, but this is where your stop is..." Mark said strapping in the pilot seat. Reaching for the lever above him, Leon quickly learned he needed to be stopped. Reaching for his pistol he unholstered but it was too late, a strong force pulled him out of the ship, holding his breath and hearing nothing but silence. Looking around him, Leon suffered the same fate as his companions. Watched as the ship in front of him vanished, floating endlessly until he ultimately reached his demise. Mark used the ship's radio to send a message out, "This is Mark Turl sending to all Militia broadcast; They're on to us, a pilot managed to hijack info and planned to inform Blisk. Doing everything in my power to make sure she fails that mission. I'm heading back to the Apex Predators HQ to leak any information I can get my hands on and give them news that the mission is unsuccessful. Mark out."


End file.
